CARDIFF CITY defender Spencer Prior has insisted he is prepared to spend the entire season sitting on the substitutes' bench - if it means the Bluebirds winning promotion.

Prior, a #700,000 signing from Manchester City last season, is suspended for the first two games of the season - at Oldham and at home to Port Vale - after being dismissed in the second leg of the play-off semi-final against Stoke last season.

And the 31-year-old knows his absence gives Scott Young and Daniel Gabbidon a chance to establish themselves as City's first-choice central defensive pairing.

But Prior said, "I hope Scott and Gabbs keep two clean sheets and we win both games two or three nil. If I have to sit on the bench then so be it. The priority is the team. It's not about me. I'm just a small piece at this club.

"Every player here wants to start, but we also have to put the team first."

Prior was shown red in the second-half of extra time against Stoke, moments after the Potters scored the decisive goal in their 2-0 win at Ninian Park.

"Scott and Gabbs will start against Oldham and it's going to be difficult to knock them off," he said. "But I don't see them as rivals because we're all part

of the same thing at Cardiff. I might end up sitting on the bench for the whole season. But I wouldn't mind if that means Cardiff are successful and we win promotion. I just want to be part of something successful here. That's why I came to this club."

City, bankrolled by Lebanese multi-millionaire Sam Hammam, are the biggest spenders outside the Premiership - but Prior reminded the club's supporters the Bluebirds have "no divine right" to win the Second Division title.

"People have got to realise there are

23 other teams in this division and they will all be wanting to beat Cardiff City," said the former Derby and Leicester defender. "If you go to the bookies you can hardly get a bet on Cardiff winning promotion and that worries me. Everyone has got to be realistic.

"The players have to work hard. We mustn't think, `We're Cardiff so we're going to win.' And the supporters have got to realise that it's not going to happen just because Sam has spent a few quid. We've got a very strong squad but we don't have a divine right to walk away with this league. We're going to have bad days but we've just got make sure we have a lot more good days." Prior started his Ninian Park career indifferently but in the last third of the 2001-02 campaign he was one of the Bluebirds' outstanding performers, playing a pivotal role in City's 14-match un-beaten run at the end of the season.

"Towards the end of last season I was playing the way I hoped to play at the start," said Prior, who is now settled in Chepstow. "I've got a wife and two young daughters and it took us a while to get settled. I'm the sort of person who is affected by life at home. If my home life is great then everything else is great.

"My family is settled now. We have a nice home and we're enjoying life in South Wales. We live outside Cardiff because we like our own space. Don't get me wrong, Cardiff is a great city but it has also got a small-town feel about it. Everyone knows everyone else's business. I just want to do my stuff at the club and then enjoy my own space."

He added, "It's important we start well this season. We didn't last year and we were always playing catch-up.

"To come back to pre-season training still Second Division players was disappointing but it might also turn out to be a good thing. It means our young players like Neil Alexander, Rhys Weston and Daniel Gabbidon can get another 40 games under their belt before, hopefully, playing in the First Division."